Sunday, February 1, 2015

FRANCESCO GUARDI, VENICE 1712 - 1793, LAGOON CAPRICCIO WITH A TOWER. A very handsome example of Guardi’s lively and subtle style, this grand capriccio, formerly in the celebrated collection of the Duc de Talleyrand, relates closely to a painting datable to around 1760-70, in a Milanese private collection.1 The tower and the rustic buildings to the right and left of the composition are very similar in both painting and drawing, as is the central visual focus with its two trees. The figures to the left of the drawing, a woman and a man looking towards the sailing boats on the horizon, are also close to those found in the painted version. Sotheby's

GIOVANNI BATTISTA TIEPOLO, VENICE 1696 - 1770 MADRID, THE HOLY FAMILY WITH ANGELS; part of the famous and much admired series of about seventy-five variations by Giambattista Tiepolo on the theme of the Holy Family, drawings which rank among the highpoints of the artist's draughtsmanship.Pen and brown ink and brown wash, 289 by 207 mm; 11 3/8 by 8 1/8 in. Sothebys

GIOVANNI BATTISTA TIEPOLO, VENICE 1696 - 1770 MADRID, THE HOLY FAMILY WITH ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST AND ANGELS. part of the famous and much admired series of about seventy-five variations by Giambattista Tiepolo on the theme of the Holy Family, drawings which rank among the highpoints of the artist's draughtsmanship. Pen and brown ink and two shades of brown wash, over black chalk, 289 by 216 mm; 11 3/8 by 8 1/2 in. Sothebys

GIOVANNI BATTISTA TIEPOLO, VENICE 1696 - 1770 MADRID, THE HOLY FAMILY WITH ANGELS. Variations on the theme of the Holy Family. Drawn with golden, this sheet is characterized by an extensive black chalk underdrawing, from which it is clear that Tiepolo made a few alterations to his composition, most noticeably in the right hand of the kneeling St. Joseph. Even while finishing the hand in question in pen and ink, Tiepolo was still clearly rethinking its final position. These pentimenti testify to the artist’s continuous and indefatigable pursuit of perfection. Sothebys

GIOVANNI BATTISTA TIEPOLO, VENICE 1696 - 1770 MADRID, MADONNA AND CHILD WITH THE INFANT ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST AND ANOTHER YOUNG CHILD. Unlike these other three versions of the subject, where Tiepolo has used a golden ink, this drawing is executed in black ink and abundant gray wash, with only a few strokes of brown ink to indicate the left side of the pedestal. Pen and black ink and two shades of gray wash, 265 by 199 mm; 10 7/16 by 7 13/16 in Sothebys

GIOVANNI DOMENICO TIEPOLO, VENICE 1727 - 1804, THE INSTITUTION OF THE EUCHARIST, Pen and black ink; signed in pen and gray ink, lower right: Dom. Tiepolo, 140 by 246 mm; 5 1/2 by 9 3/4 in. George Knox, who believes this to be an early drawing, pointed out that in the elongated horizontal format of the composition, the drawing relates to two overdoors executed by Giandomenico shortly after 1750 in the ‘Speisesaal’ of the country seat of the Prince-Bishop of Würzburg, at Veitschöchheim. Those overdoors represent Christ chasing the money-changers from the Temple (now Madrid, Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum) and Christ and the barren fig tree Sothebys

GABRIEL DE SAINT-AUBIN, PARIS 1724 -1780, THE TRIUMPH OF BACCHUS. Pen and brown ink over black chalk within pen and brown ink framing lines, 178 by 345 mm; 7 by 13 1/2 in. Saint-Aubin's ability to capture and convey movement in his drawings. In this interpretation of the popular Rococo subject of the Triumph of Bacchus, more than atmosphere, becomes the main focus. The sense of motion here is one of frenetic energy that propels the chariot and figures surrounding it. The technique of applying rapidly executed parallel strokes to give definition to certain figures and to set them off from the background can also be seen in Saint-Aubin's. Sothebys

CHARLES PARROCEL, PARIS 1688 - 1752, A TURKISH NOBLEMAN ON HORSEBACK. Red chalk within pen and brown ink framing lines, 185 by 144 mm; 7 1/4 by 5 5/8 in. This much published drawing was always considered to be a sketch from life by Jean Antoine Watteau, depicting Mohammed Reza Beg, the leader of a highly important - and ultimately ill-fated - diplomatic embassy from Shah Husein of Persia to the French Court in 1714-16. Sothebys

JEAN-BAPTISTE GREUZE, TOURNUS 1725 - 1805 PARIS. A MOTHER AND HER CHILDREN, Pen and black ink and gray wash within partial brown ink framing lines, indented for transfer, 204 by 139 mm; 8 by 5 7/16 in. In the early 1760s Greuze began to specialize in these rustic images which proved extremely popular and were often widely circulated via reproductive prints. Sothebys

HONORÉ DAUMIER, MARSEILLE 1808 - 1879 VALMONDOIS, 'L'HERCULE DE FOIRE'. Black and brown chalk and gray wash, signed in black chalk lower left: h. Daumier. 340 by 135 mm; 13 3/8 by 5 5/16 in. Despite Daumier's well-known declaration that "One must be of one's own time,"1 many of the artist's telling depictions of the personalities who surrounded him in the Paris of the mid-19th century also have an utterly timeless quality; Daumier observed and recorded their essential humanity. In no group of drawings is this more the case than in the artist's various studies of street and fairground performers, most of which date from 1850s or later.Sothebys